Military Could Hit Troops With Courts-Martial For Refusing To Use Preferred Pronouns, Experts Say
Fort Cavazos receives the Honorable Christine Wormuth, Secretary of the Army
MICAELA BURROW
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, DEFENSE
April 21, 2024
7:58 PM ET
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The military could seek to formally punish service members for refusing to use another service member’s preferred pronouns under existing policy, according to military experts.
A 2020 Equal Opportunity law opened the door for commanders to subject someone who refuses to affirm a transgender servicemember’s so-called gender identity to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) for charges related to harassment, Capt. Thomas Wheatley, an assistant professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Such a move would likely infringe on a servicemember’s constitutional rights to uphold their conscience, but it might not prevent leaders from employing more subtle ways of disciplining service members.
Military experts told the DCNF Congress should step in before it’s too late.
The military “is right to want to protect the rights and welfare of its transgender service members. But it owes the same protection to those who share a different perspective on the issue, especially when that perspective is a deep-seated expression of personal conscience,” Wheatley told the DCNF. (RELATED: Pentagon Won’t Respond To New Research Casting Doubt On Studies Supporting Military’s DEI Push)
None of the military’s rules explicitly prohibit so-called “misgendering,” when someone uses pronouns to describe a transgender person which do not correspond to the person’s new gender identity, Wheatley explained. However, existing guidance implies that using pronouns rejected by another person violates Military Equal Opportunity (MEO) regulations against sex-based harassment and discrimination.
https://dailycaller.com/2024/04/21/military-could-hit-troops-with-court-martials-for-refusing-to-use-preferred-pronouns-experts-say/
